Local plant fire leads to brief shutdown of I-10, shelter-in-place

A Friday afternoon fire at the Axiall chemical plant in Westlake forced an evacuation of the facility, the closure of I-10 near the plant for a brief time and a shelter-in-place to be called for Westlake and east Sulphur.

A Friday afternoon fire at the Axiall chemical plant in Westlake forced an evacuation of the facility, the closure of I-10 near the plant for a brief time and a shelter-in-place to be called for Westlake and east Sulphur.

According to an Axiall Corporation news release, the fire occurred at around 1:40 p.m. in the vinyl chloride manufacturing area of the company’s chemicals complex in the Westlake area. The fire was extinguished at approximately 2:38 p.m. and the shelter-in-place was lifted by 2:52 p.m. While no injuries to plant personnel were reported from the scene, 12 cases of respiratory issues have been reported from a local hospital.

Students were placed in lockdown at Western Heights Elementary, Westwood Elementary, S.P. Arnett Middle and Westlake High schools in Westlake and Maplewood School in Sulphur until after the shelter-in-place was lifted and the all-clear was given. Students were released around 3:15 p.m.

Axiall further stated that the investigation into the cause of the fire is continuing and that they are coordinating that investigation with the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and other authorities.

The Louisiana State Police will be among those investigating the incident.

"Our emergency services guys will investigate what happened," said Sgt. James Anderson, LSP spokesperson, "They will get to the bottom of what happened."